While it’s way too friggin’ hot to do anything constructive outside, we get to go the great indoors to get our first look at NBA rookies in Summer League! And there’s almost always one surpriser, one Shyamalan twist… Except, well, in a good way. Myles Turner already had the ingredients to be a fantasy beast heading into the draft (which we mentioned in our mock a month earlier), then he landed in one of the most ideal situations to a team needing a big man contributor right away. On top of his already fantasy-friendly skill set, Turner murdered it in summer ball for a 18.7/8.3/0/0.7/4.3 slash line over three games, hitting 8-10 from the stripe and 2-3 treys. Ibaka-lite might actually be more fitting than I jokingly quipped! Even Larry Bird has chimed in saying Turner is better than they thought, and his only real competition for minutes is Jordan Hill. While Turner did have an 8 foul game in there (it’s comical it takes 10 to foul out), it’s about the only knock on a guy who took 11+ shots every game and made at least half of them every time, averaging over 60% from the field. Plus only 3 total TO. It’s easy to dismiss popcorn stats like that in Summer League, but the opportunity is there and I think he might be the #1 rookie big off the draft board in 9-cat leagues, as crazy as that sounds. If Jahlil could just make an effin’ FT! Where’s a good FT coach like Andris Biedrinswhen you need them… Here’s what else went down through Summer League action, which wrapped up over the weekend:

The tennis balls are off the legs, the HurryCane back in the closet, the pre-game meal eaten at 5:00 AM at the early bird special – we’ve got Kemba Walker back!

After a month and a half off, Walker came off the bench last night for the Hornets, and looked like Louis C.K.’s nethers. Rusty. 2-9 from the field for 6/1/2/0/1 with a TO in 16 minutes. While there’s no need to be harsh – we expected some rust after knee surgery – but Mo Williams played pretty well with 8 dimes and Gerald Henderson shocked the world with a career-high 11 assists. Ok, “shocked the world” may be a slight overstatement, I could say “it was so shocking it blew all his hair off!” It’s certainly interesting he had a previous career-high 9 dimes just last Sunday, so now there’s two facilitators to battle with. Makes me worried about Kemba’s assists upside, and he’s kinda looking like an Isaiah Canaan clone. Wait, I said I didn’t need to be harsh! That said, Kemba is healthy and has a lot more upside, so obviously worth owning everywhere. I just wouldn’t be shocked (unlike Hendo’s dimebag!) if he’s towards the end of the line if you’re killing Pts/3s and need to stream a stat at the end of week one of the playoffs… Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:

Who doesn’t remember Remember the Titans? “If you have to remind people what the joke in the title is from, it sucks JB!” Thanks ghost of Grey! I’ll work on improving the rest of the week if you can sneak in and Hollow Man me a mustache ride.

Hard to believe Remember the Titans is so old. Who woulda thought Will Patton’s annoying ass daughter would be getting torn apart by some monster Russian boxer. “I must break you.” And who woulda thought a guy who had bounced around the D league, played in China, barely played in 2011-12 the last time we saw him in the NBA, would break fantasy basketball waiver wires?! Hassan Whiteside absolutely tore apart the Clippers Klitschko-style for 23/16/0/2/2 yesterday afternoon, in case you missed it and weren’t watching NBA. Not like there was any other sport with important games on… Mr. Whiteside hit 10-13 FG and 3-4 FT (although he’s not the best FT shooter), and most importantly started the second half over Chris Andersen. Birdman had bid flu with a -17 +/- and Whiteside was brightside for +26. No disparity there! And somehow Slim’s Heat won. I’d be very surprised if Whiteside doesn’t start tomorrow against the Lakers, and he’s leap-frogged a lot of the fringy big men. Alex Len is so then! Jordan Hill can take a chill pill! Jusuf Nurkic can… Nope, he’s still Jamba Jus! Love my smoothies… But Hassan is likely a must-own in all leagues. Hopefully you grabbed him yesterday or can this morning, so your bigs can tear apart your opponents Klitschko-style. Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball action:

I for one am elated the Holidays have wrapped up (big thanks again to Slim for his recap at the end of last week!), and ready to buckle down for the second half of the fantasy regular season in H2H. My new year’s resolutions have been made – use Twitter more, swear a little less, work out a lot more… But this gosh darn knee! Eh, I’m pretty flippin’ flabby anyway… Fiddlesticks! Might as well shut it down…

And the talk for Carmelo Anthony‘s shutdown continually grow like a wave across the second level at Madison Square Garden. Not like they have anything else to do… Next new year’s resolution – less dot dot dots! The 5-31 Knickerbockers (I’m calling them The Poppycockers the rest of the way) have been worse than even Spike Lee could have imagined after reading reviews of his Oldboy remake. “Brooooooo – Liiiinnnnn!” Some dude named Bondy (shakeny, not stirredy) from The New York Daily Newsreported Melo’s knee will need a minor surgery, so it’s not like Melo is just playing through general oldboy-ness. He’s missed the last few after being awful for two straight to end December, so trading him off in fantasy leagues is redonk tough. Last we checked in (mostly through comments), I’ve maintained I’m not giving him away, but it’s fairly close. He’s about at the “leave on the curb” status rather than “driving him all the way to the dumpster.” My best advice would be to find a need for your team, and go for a guy that hits that need without a huge overall rank – i.e. Trevor Ariza for some steals and treys. Might not get Ariza these days, but yeah, something like that. And I still think you gotta try and hold out until Melo plays a few in a row – he’s traveling with the team for the next two games so he’s likely to suit up at least once. Here’s what else went on in fantasy basketball since we flipped the calendar:

I hope everyone had a good and safe New Year. At the start of each New Year some people set new goals for themselves. In Daily Fantasy Sports we have the same goal year in and year out. Be profitable at DFS. The first step towards that goal is being smart with your bankroll. I recommend playing 50/50’s to get your bankroll up. Hope this article helps out too.

We start the New Year off with disappointing news about one of the NBA’s and fantasy’s best players. The Cavs announced on New Year’s Day that LeBron James would miss the next two weeks with knee and back strains, an absence that could reach as many at 10 games. The Cavs are hopeful that the two weeks of treatment, which will include anti-inflammatories, will help get James back to 100% and prevent further injury. James has been a durable player his whole career, never missing more than five straight games so the news is definitely rare.

You’re not going to find a replacement for James off waivers and will just have to wait out the two weeks until your star player is hopefully healthy and back in the lineup. For the Cavs, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love will see upticks in fantasy value, as they are asked to carry more of the offensive load.

Love missed Wednesday’s game against the Bucks with back spasms, but is expected to return to the lineup on Friday against the Hornets. This could be a monster game for Love and Irving, as the Hornets won’t have Al Jefferson or Lance Stephenson (more on them later).

May your champagne be stocked, your last night of horrific eating before a New Year’s resolution be gorged, and your lists of things to reflect on be lengthy. Number one on my list right now is my groin is healthy! Rough, rough injury for the Charlotte Hornets and fantasy owners’ front lines with Al Jefferson out at least the next month with an adductor strain. Not that you need it, but Dr. JB is linking a little pic here [FAMILY FRIENDLY!]. Enough groin talk already!

When I heard Big Al was out for a month, I made the same face as Bill Walton’s Basketball-Reference picture… Lots of shock waves across the Hornets, with Bismack Biyombo likely starting at the 5. I don’t think he plays 30 minutes a night, but the boards-n-blocks upside puts him into the Rudy Gobert conversation. Like Gobert, Biyombo won’t be winning a game of knokout anytime soon… Shooting 44% from the FT line this season, and under 50% in his career. A big winner here is Marvin Williams, who should be owned in 14ers and worth a bookmark for shallower. Off 8/14/3/3/0 Monday night, the Hornets are going to move Cody Zeller into a lot of C minutes as the Hornets have no real front-line depth. Williams hit a couple of treys in that game as well, and as with all Hornets, is in line for a few more shots with Big Al’s 16.3 FGA distributed to the masses. For deep leaguers, don’t forget about Noah Vonleh who was sent to the D-League recently for a little seasoning. He’s expected to be called back up momentarily, and as you’d assume with a team losing their best player, the Hornets are likely to fall even further in the Eastern standings. Vonleh might get some experiential run as the season presses on to develop the 9th overall pick in this year’s loaded draft. Here’s what else went down last night across the NBA:

Even though he didn’t set the world on fire last night (16/3/2/1/0), Jack seems to have a stronghold on the Nets starting PG spot. With the range for treys (one 3PTM the past three games) and a great FT%, Jack is a must-own in all leagues for me. However, there is a major concern. The Showcase Showdown! Brooklyn is trying to pawn Williams off like a bad case of gonorrhea, and sometimes you have to coax out the virus before it goes away! Hah – let’s hope that’s not true, totally making that up (cough, cough…). With another bajillion dollars left on D-Will’s contract, the injury-riddled walking kankle is a tough sell. Then again, maybe keeping him off the bench will protect him from another injury making him go from normally hard to sell to “leave him on the curb and hope someone takes him” hard to sell. Regardless, most teams even in 10ers should have room for Jack, as I think it’s likely he starts the rest of the season for the soon-to-be rebuilding Nets. And there’s no one else that’s even waiting in the wings… So pick up Jack where you can if he’s still out there, if only to cheer him up! Here’s what else went down last night in Fantasy Basketball action:

“Did you coach the Celtics to a win last night, B-Rad?!” “No… But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!”

Since returning from his bad ankle sprain, Marcus Smart has had quite the timeline. Returned last Wednesday and played five minutes, and Stevens said he didn’t look ready. And when you’re not ready, you get demoted to the D-League. And when you shoot 1-12 FG in that D-League game, you still get a promotion. I want to work for that company! Any time you get reprimanded, you just have to explain why you’re currently better than 1-12! Then DNP Friday, and 8 minutes of nada Sunday. So of course, everyone expected that he’d play 35 minutes and go 23/4/5/1/0 shooting 7-14 FG (4-8 3PTM, 5-5 FT) without a single TO last night. And everyone expected Rajon Rondo, off a triple-double, to be benched in favor of Smart down the stretch and for both the overtimes. Well, the Celtics did almost upset the Wiz at home! Key word… almost. And sure, Boston had a big 4th quarter with the subs to make it a game, but an L is an L! Rondo owners collectively throw things at their computers – no one is safe from a Stevens line-up bamboozle. Before you run out and grab Smart, consider that timeline this past week. And don’t forget before last night he was shooting sub-30% FG and 21.4% from deep with only 1.1 dimes a game. Given some of those were in low-minute spells, but it was still only 8 dimes in 114 minutes to 6 TO. So don’t pull a Stevens and feel like the smartest one in the room by dropping, well virtually anyone in a 12 or 14 teamer for him, unless you plan to stash. Rondo could still be moved, but I never bet on a trade. It’s like betting on a successful hostage trade in an action movie. They never work out! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:

Totally off the wagon! My sobriety is over. On my bender this weekend, I ate a roasted chicken off the bone for dinner, lost my voice yelling trying to talk to Germans, tried to order steak at a carnival stand, and woke up the next day hating life. Well, that was actually my time at Oktoberfest, but more or less the same thing!

We all know how much I love Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He’s probably my most talked about fantasy player since last season that hasn’t fully broken into 100%-owned fantasy relevance. And of course, after a slow start and swearing him off – with me finally admitting to my KCP obsession – he turns it back around culminating in another fantastic line against OKC for 19/3/5/1/0 shooting 6-12 FG (1-5 3PTM 6-7 FT). Did have 3 TO, but one was a very questionable charge on a nasty layup in transition. I think Kevin Durant took it – MVP call! In the finale last year, KCP went 30/6/0/2/1 on 11-19 shooting with 5 treys against OKC. Slim – how many times have I brought up that game now?! I worked Yahoo highlights on that one when my company did them last year, so harkening to the memories of that 30-burger is like reliving your ultimate drug trip. “The trees were melting into the sky!” So of course seeing him rip apart OKC once again has my teeth grinding more than a cokehead stranded in Antarctica.

KCP’s got steals in 9 of 10 games now, his TO rate is fantastic (3 was a season high yesterday – averaging 1.0 TO a game before last night), but I’m recently liking how much more he’s getting involved inside the perimeter. Through the first 15 games, 47.4% of KCP’s shots were 3s, but through the last six, 35 of his 80 shots were treys taking it down to 43.8%. And in that time his USG% (estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor) – something I don’t look at too, too often – jumped from 18% those first 15 games, to 20.3% not including yesterday. I watched a lot of last night’s game, and he was more involved in the O than any other Pistons game I’ve seen all year – and due to my addiction, it’s been a lot. While it was yet another loss, they still gave OKC a run for their money – given the Thunder studs are still shaking off some rust. So I’m back to being a KCP addict! Let’s hope this doesn’t start impacting my work and ruining my relationships… I won’t go rehab again! Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball: